


Ferris Wheel Lights On

by theladyscribe



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Montreal Canadiens, Twitter Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-22 13:52:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4837646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/pseuds/theladyscribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex pulls the pillow away from Brendan's face. "You put those photos on Twitter! My <em>grandmother </em>called me from Belarus to ask why we announced our engagement on Twitter before we called her!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ferris Wheel Lights On

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aperfect20 (blamefincham)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blamefincham/gifts).



> This was a lot of fun to write and has absolutely zero basis in an actual real life prank engagement. Title is from "The Patient Ferris Wheel" by Gaslight Anthem.

It's a joke. It's a Twitter joke. Brendan mentions that he's visiting Alex in Montreal, PK says something about them getting hitched at the ferris wheel, and because they're idiots, they decide that's a great idea. Alex borrows a ridiculous rhinestone ring from his sister, Brendan halfway dresses up, and when they get to the top of the ferris wheel, they snap a set of terrible selfies that highlight the ring. The photos immediately go up on Twitter, along with a string of hashtags:

 _#ferriswheelproposal_ _#hesaidyes #sohappy @PKSubban1_

"Perfect," Brendan says with a grin.

"You're just sending that to PK, right?" Alex asks as he tugs the ring off his finger.

( _"Why am I the one being proposed to?" he'd asked when they were plotting out their prank. "Because I'm the one who came to visit!" said Brendan, insisting that it would be more believable this way._ )

"Yep, of course." Brendan clicks out of the app so Alex can't see and smiles at him. "Hey, wanna get poutine after the ride's over? I'm starving."

Alex gives him a deeply skeptical look but doesn't say anything more.

*

Brendan doesn't realize anything is wrong with his prank until he wakes up the next morning to find Alex trying to smother him with a pillow.

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Alex is shouting, and Brendan doesn't know what to do with that announcement at nine in the morning.

"What the fuck, dude?" he shouts back, though the effect's probably ruined by the way his voice is muffled in the pillow. "What did I do?"

Alex pulls the pillow away from Brendan's face. "You put those photos on Twitter! My _grandmother_ called me from Belarus to ask why we announced our engagement on Twitter before we called her!"

" _What_ ," Brendan squawks. He grabs for his phone, pushing at Alex until he releases Brendan's legs from where he's been sitting on them.

There are eleven missed calls (including one from his parents and one from his agent), twenty-seven text notifications, and _eighty-six_ Twitter alerts.

He checks his voicemail first, listening to his dad fumble through an obviously rehearsed speech saying they love him and just wish he'd told them he was dating Alex. They've known Brendan is gay for a while, but they've never been totally comfortable with the idea. He sets it aside to deal with later, and looks back at the missed calls. The next one is from his agent, Gerry, and Brendan hopes to god that Alex can't hear it.

"Brendan, I know we talked about you coming out this summer, but we made a plan for a reason. Give me a call back as soon as you get this."

Brendan pulls the phone away from his ear and stares at it, wondering how long he can get away with not calling Gerry back. "Fuck."

"No _shit_ ," Alex grumbles. He's flopped on the end of the bed, arm thrown across his oversized forehead.

Brendan deletes most of the other voicemails without listening to them and then starts in on the text messages. He blindly chooses the text from Prusty first. Brandon's been getting settled into Vancouver, so Brendan hopes it'll just be a message whining about the weather and the lack of good smoked meat.

_Congrats, man!! Didnt know u guys were 2gether!_

Brendan scowls. He suspects the rest of the messages will be mostly the same. There's two from PK, though, so he taps them open.

 _Dude!!!!!! I was joking!!!!!!!!!_ the first one says. And then, _Hope I didn't spoil the surprise!_

"Fuck," Brendan says again. If PK thinks it's real, they're in _serious_ shit.

*

Brendan calls Gerry back while Alex showers. He explains everything, from PK's teasing to borrowing one of Anna's rings to waking up this morning and realizing what he'd done.

Gerry sighs. "I'm not going to lecture you, Brendan, but it's going to be very difficult to explain this and come out later this summer. You've set yourself back at least a year, possibly more."

Brendan squeezes his eyes shut against the tears threatening to form. The thought's been in the back of his mind all morning, but hearing Gerry say it makes it more real. "I understand," he says when he knows he can keep the tremor out of his voice.

"I'll contact the Canadiens' front office. I'm sure the PR team will want to sit down with you guys to decide on the strategy for walking this back."

"Okay."

"Take care of yourself," Gerry says kindly. "I'll be in touch."

Brendan drops his phone on the table and puts his head in his hands. He isn't sure how long he sits there, but it's long enough that Alex finds him still clutching his head and fighting back tears.

"Brendan?"

Brendan doesn't look up until he feels Alex sit beside him. "I fucked up, Chucky," he whispers, staring down at his phone, still buzzing occasionally with new messages. "I fucked up so bad."

Alex nudges him and picks up the phone, turning off the screen and moving it out of Brendan's reach. "We'll explain it was a joke that got out of hand and Saillant and the PR team will issue a statement with an apology. It'll be fine."

Brendan shakes his head, and this time there really are tears. "No, it _won't_. I was—I was planning to come out this summer."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Brendan wipes at his face, giving up on being surreptitious about it when Alex hands him a napkin. "Thanks."

"Did Gerry say you couldn't come out?"

"He said I've probably set it back a year. Maybe less if the team does well. I really wanted to do it this year," he admits quietly. He glances over at Alex, who's staring back at him thoughtfully. "Why?"

"Maybe you still can," Alex says. "Maybe you already did."

"Um, no?"

"You got engaged to a guy last night."

Brendan rolls his eyes. "Yeah, and that's why I'm in this fucking mess, Chucky."

"It can get you out of it, too," Alex insists. "Think about it—we just let everyone think we're actually engaged, you get to come out, and in a year we decide to split up because we're better friends than boyfriends. Simple." He leans back, smug and satisfied with his plan.

"That's a stupid idea, and you know it," Brendan says. "You're not even gay!"

Alex makes a one-shoulder shrug. "Not really straight, either. Besides what does it matter if I'm gay or not? It's not like—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Brendan says, drowning out anything else Alex might try to say. "You do _not_ get to drop that bomb and just pretend like nothing happened. You're _bi_? And you never _told me_?"

Alex shrugs again. "It didn't seem important."

Brendan opens his mouth to berate him some more, but Alex's demeanor has shifted. He looks significantly less comfortable than he did a moment ago, and he's no longer looking Brendan in the eye. Brendan snaps his mouth shut.

It's not that he and Alex are best friends, exactly, but he thought they were close enough that something like this would have come up. It's—it's a shock, and it hurts, maybe, that Alex didn't trust him with this until now. Brendan's not sure how he feels that a prank engagement is what it takes to get Alex to open up.

After a minute of incredibly awkward silence, Brendan says softly, "Thanks for telling me. You don't have to help me out of this, though. It's my fault, I should just deal with it."

Alex shakes his head. "I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it."

They fall silent again, both of them startling when their phones chirp simultaneously. _Meeting @ Bell. Saillant's office. ASAP_ , reads the text from Gerry. Brendan bets Alex's is identical.

Alex stands and offers Brendan a hand. "C'mon, we better go."

Brendan stands and impulsively wraps his arms around Alex in a hug. "Thanks, Chucky," he says into Alex's shoulder, "you're the best."

Alex doesn't say anything, just hugs him back. It's a nice hug, made nicer by the feel of Alex's summer weight. The thought makes Brendan startle a little, which only makes Alex squeeze him tighter.

"Let go of me," Brendan says, taking a quick step back, "we're gonna be late." He socks Alex in the arm as they head out the door and receives a shove back.

*

Brendan is pretty sure Alex will change his mind by the time they get to Bell Centre, but Alex stomps into Saillant's office and says, "We're getting married, and that's it."

No one says anything for a moment, and then everyone starts talking at once.

"I thought you said—"

"And you didn't think to tell—"

"If this is part of some _prank—_ "

 _Thwack!_ Everyone stops talking just as suddenly as they started and turns to look at Dominik Saillant.

Saillant says calmly, "You two should have let us know about your relationship, but there's nothing to be done about it now. Sit down, it's time to talk about your statements."

They spend nearly three hours hashing out an official statement from both of them, announcing both of their sexualities, outlining the genesis of their relationship, and asking for privacy as they enter this new stage of their commitment to one another. Brendan feels vaguely nauseous through the entire meeting, waiting for someone to call their bluff, to point out that their stories about when their relationship started were contradictory. No one does, and the only truly dicey moment is when somebody—maybe Gina, one of the press release writers—asks about the ring Brendan gave to Alex.

"I borrowed it from Anna," Brendan says without thinking.

"It's a family heirloom," Alex jumps in, "so he borrowed it for the occasion. We're not—it's not the official ring."

"Yeah!" Brendan says. "It was sort of a spur-of-the-moment proposal, so I got it from Anna. But we're gonna pick out other rings while I'm here."

"We are?" Alex says, pinning Brendan with murder eyes, and oh, maybe that was a little too much.

" _Yes_ , Chucky, of course. I can't head back home without getting you a real ring." He pats Alex's hand. Alex turns his palm upward and grips Brendan's hand hard enough to hurt.

"That's very sweet of you," Alex says, but his smile says death is imminent.

Brendan thinks he might not make live long enough to break it off amicably.

When they're finally allowed to leave, Alex stomps out of the office the same way he stomped in, though this time, Brendan can tell that Alex is angry at him, specifically, and not just his usual annoyed at the world anger.

Alex does have the grace not to say anything until they're in the car, but as soon as they're on the road, he turns on Brendan. "What the fuck, dude? _Rings_? You know we're not really getting married, right?"

"Sorry!" Brendan knows it sounds like a whine. "I just said the first thing that came to me!"

Alex huffs. "Fine. But you're paying for them."

"Fine."

*

The rest of Brendan's week in Montreal is spent avoiding media calls, shopping for rings, placating upset family members, and convincing Gerry this is a good idea.

Avoiding the media is relatively easy, primarily accomplished by muting their phones for everyone except family and friends.

It takes a little work to get Gerry to come around to the plan, but he eventually acquiesces. "I hope you know what you're doing," he says, and Brendan silently agrees.

Placating family members, too, is surprisingly easy; once everyone's over the initial shock of their announcement (and the way it was announced), they're pretty much on board. Anna is the only one who knows the truth of the matter, and she pinky-promises both Brendan and Alex not to tell a soul. She's a good sister, so Brendan trusts her to keep her word.

Picking rings, on the other hand, is a nightmare.

Brendan really isn't certain what sort of rings Alex likes or would want, so he tries to ask. Alex is weird about it and refuses to give him a straight answer, so Brendan gives up and sets out on his own.

Alex has been kind of weird about a lot of things, actually. Brendan thought things were okay at first—after all, keeping this charade up was initially Alex's idea—but he's gotten huffy and more tense as the week has worn on. And when Brendan tries to get him to talk, Alex rebuffs him or decides to go for a run or just disappears. Brendan asked Anna about it, but she told him he'd have to ask Alex.

Anyway, Brendan initially finds two very nice gold rings online. They're traditional bands, nothing flashy, and he thinks they'll do for what they need.

"No," Alex says when Brendan shows them to him.

"No?"

"Too boring."

The next set Brendan finds look more like women's engagement rings. There's a single diamond set in a raised bed that sort of twists out of the band. It's a little girly for Brendan's taste, but maybe Alex likes that sort of thing.

"No fucking way," Alex says when he sees it.

Frustrated, Brendan calls PK, which is both a great and terrible idea.

PK laughs at him. "Dude, why are you looking online? You gotta go see these things in person!"

PK takes him out for lunch, and the two of them go to Kaufmann de Suisse to find rings. Mr. Kaufmann personally waits on them, patiently showing Brendan their ready-made rings and when none of those are quite right, walking him through the custom design process. He finally settles on silver rings inlaid with a row of diamonds, rubies, and sapphires—Habs colours.

"Excellent choice," PK says when he sees the mock-up. "Chucky's gonna love it."

The rings won't be ready for a few weeks, so Brendan makes arrangements to pick them up when he's back in town for camp.

"So I guess this means you guys are really doing this, huh?" says PK after Brendan makes the down payment and they leave the store.

"Guess so," Brendan answers.

PK shakes his head. "Man, I really didn't think you were serious, but I'm glad the two of you finally figured yourselves out. Me and Pricey and Prusty weren't sure you'd ever get there."

"What?" Brendan squeaks, glad he's not the one driving.

"Don't worry, we didn't put any money on you or anything," PK continues, apparently unaware that Brendan is freaking out.

He knew his crush on Alex had probably been pretty obvious to anyone looking for it, but this is—this is seriously wigging him out. What does PK mean, _figured yourselves out_? So far as Brendan knows, there wasn't anything _to_ figure out. He's got a crush, Alex is a really good friend, and he just dropped a shitload of money on a pair of rings for a relationship that isn't even going to last.

Unless. Maybe he means the crush isn't so unrequited? But that's dumb. Brendan would have noticed. He's certain of it.

*

When he gets back from his adventures with PK, Brendan walks in on Anna and Alex having an argument in Russian. They stop short when he comes into the den with his new suit in a bag, Alex not looking at anyone and Anna giving Brendan a weird smile.

"How was PK?" Anna asks.

"Good. We found rings. Custom, so they won't be ready until I come back for camp, but that's okay."

"You didn't have to get custom rings," Alex says in the tone of voice that means he's mad and wants to pick a fight with someone.

Brendan shrugs. "If we're gonna do this, we might as well go all-in."

"And what are you going to do with them after we break up?" asks Alex, and here it comes, the fight that's been brewing all week. Brendan is vaguely aware of Anna taking his bags and making her escape.

"Resell them?" Brendan says. "Melt them down and make a necklace for my mom? I don't know, I haven't thought that far ahead."

"You never do," Alex mutters.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means."

Brendan crosses his arms. "Enlighten me."

Alex stands, moving toward Brendan. "You put those photos on Twitter without thinking about the consequences. After you told me you didn't."

"You could have checked!"

"And then you roped me into this stupid plan."

"Ha!" Brendan laughs. "It was _your_ fucking idea!"

"I said we could stay engaged. I _didn't_ sign up for _rings_ and shit."

"Too fucking bad," Brendan snaps. "They're already bought."

"I. Don't. Want. Them."

Alex is right on top of him, and Brendan shoves at him. Alex shoves back, and suddenly they're wrestling on the floor, fighting dirty. Brendan gets Alex in a headlock, but Alex is basically sitting on him, pressing a sharp elbow into his stomach. Brendan retaliates by drawing his knee up, intending to get him in the balls if possible. The move results in Alex's thigh pressed against Brendan's groin. Alex shifts to avoid Brendan's knee and manages to rock his thigh into Brendan's crotch in just the right way.

Brendan freezes. He releases Alex from his grip immediately and pushes him back.

"Get off me." Alex doesn't budge, so Brendan pushes him harder. "I said _get off me_ , asshole."

Alex goes this time, looking a little startled at the vehemence in Brendan's voice.

Brendan doesn't care. He gets up and storms out of the room. Thank god he's going home tomorrow.

*

Home is miserable. There's yet another uncomfortable conversation with Brendan's parents, some well-meaning attempts by his siblings to be supportive, and a family dinner where everyone interrogates him about the wedding plans.

Brendan wants to complain to someone, but the only person who would understand and actually be able to commiserate is Alex. And Alex… isn't really talking to him right now.

Well, to be fair, Brendan hasn't really _tried_ to get Alex to talk to him. It's been radio silence from both sides since their tense goodbye hug at the airport when he left Montreal. It's probably a good thing that no one saw them there, because there'd be rumors about them breaking up already.

The whole thing sucks, and Brendan wishes he'd confessed everything instead of letting Alex talk him into this shitty mess of an engagement. It would have been better than the fighting and the not talking.

After a month of opening up his contacts and staring at Alex's name, Brendan's sister finally steals his phone and says, "If you're not gonna do it, I'll do it for you."

Brendan tries to steal it back, but she holds it out of his reach until after the bell sounds marking a sent message.

He looks at it. _Miss you._ It's not a lie, but it feels raw, like an exposed blister. He intends to send another message saying his sister stole the phone and he won't bother Alex, but before he gets a chance, there's a response.

_Miss you too. Skype?_

It's. It's completely unexpected, and Brendan should probably be embarrassed by the relief that floods through him.

"Are you gonna answer him?" Brendan pushes his sister's face away from his shoulder.

"Leave me alone, squirt."

"You're the squirt," she snarks back, but she lets him be.

 _When?_ he asks back.

 _Now is good_.

Brendan excuses himself to his room, stupidly nervous as he starts the call.

"Hey." Alex's voice is tinny and he looks—well, he looks _good_ , letting his hair and beard grow out. He also looks tired, and Brendan wonders if he hasn't been sleeping well.

"Hey," Brendan says back, feeling a small smile creep onto his face. "Sorry for, you know."

Alex shakes his head. "We were both being dicks."

The apologies out of the way, the conversation starts to flow. They catch up, they talk about their plans for the last of the summer before camp starts, they talk about the trades and their hopes for the upcoming season. They very carefully don't talk about their fake engagement. Brendan isn't sure whether he's relieved about that or not.

*

After their skype conversation, things go back to mostly normal with Alex. They still don't really talk about the engagement except when it affects the hockey schedule. They'll have a special joint session as part of the Habs' media day, which neither of them are terribly excited about.

"They'll probably ask us to play the Newlywed game," Alex complains. "I hate that game."

"That's just because you're going to lose," Brendan chirps.

"I will not! _You're_ the one who can't remember my birthday!"

Alex is probably right, but Brendan refuses to admit it, falling into a familiar pattern of insults and cajoling.

Three days before Brendan is scheduled to be back in Montreal, he gets a call from Kaufmann de Suisse that the rings are ready. He makes arrangements to pick them up when he gets into town and texts Alex to let him know that PK is going to pick him up from the airport.

Alex answers back with _Ok_ , and Brendan tries not to read too much into the terseness.

It takes no time at all to get the rings, and before long, PK is dropping Brendan off at Alex's place. They decided they should probably move in together, given the circumstances. They opted for Alex's apartment, since it's actually lived in year-round and Brendan's lease is almost up. He doesn't have a key to Alex's place yet, so he knocks on the door, feeling weirdly nervous about it.

Alex answers the door with a weird smile on his face. "Hey," he says, stepping aside to let Brendan through. "How was the flight?"

"Not bad," Brendan says. He wonders if he should say anything about the rings, or if he should wait until later. He turns to see Alex still standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"I wasn't sure which room to put you in," Alex says. "We have the CH24 crew coming during camp, and they probably expect—"

"Yeah," Brendan says. "Um, I can—we can put my stuff in the guest room and say it's because of space?"

Alex looks sceptical. "And when you forget to make the bed?"

"You snore so loud, Chucky, I can't sleep in the same room as you."

Alex shoves him, but he's laughing. " _I'm_ not the one who scared all the rookies with my snoring on the airplane last year."

Brendan shoves him back, so glad to have this back. "I had a head cold! It's not my fault!"

"Sure." They shove each other a little more before finally settling down and getting Brendan's things into the guest room.

He still has the rings rattling around in his pocket, and later, tucks them in the back of his sock drawer, not quite sure what to do with them now that he has them. He's thought about pulling them out, about giving them to Alex, about the two of them wearing them together. He's not sure if he should mention it. Alex certainly hasn't brought it up.

He decides to save them for camp. They'll have to wear them at least when they're being filmed, probably, but not before then. That gives him a timeline, one where it won't be weird for him to give Alex his ring and wear the other himself.

Satisfied with his plan, Brendan throws himself into preparation for training camp, working out with Alex and PK, skating, eating dinner with the Subbans when they invite him and Alex over. They hang out with Pricey and his wife sometimes, too, laughing a little uncomfortably when Pricey jokes about the four of them doing married couple things together.

Alex gets quiet again, but it's less tense than it was, and Brendan tries not to take it personally. Neither one of them fully realized what sort of commitment they were making with this charade, and it's bound to take its toll on them both. Brendan just hopes they really will still be friends when their year is up.

Camp arrives before he knows it, and the morning of the first day, Brendan pulls out the rings for the first time since he moved in. He comes into the kitchen to find Alex already making breakfast, so he gets out plates and cups and the orange juice, making himself busy and hoping Alex doesn't notice he's nervous.

Nothing gets past Alex, though, so as soon as he sets down their omelettes, he says, "Spill."

Brendan holds out his hand, and Alex frowns at him. "Hold out your hand, dumbass," Brendan sighs exaggeratedly.

Alex does, and Brendan drops the rings into his hand. Alex stares at them for a moment, picking one up and examining it. He doesn't say anything for a long time, and Brendan starts to squirm, worried they're headed for another fight.

Alex drops the ring he's examining back into his other hand and closes his fist. He looks up at Brendan. "I like them."

Brendan grins, relieved. "They're Habs colours."

"I noticed." Alex rolls his eyes. "They'll never let us live that down, you know."

"I know. I don't care."

Alex hands the rings back to Brendan. "The media team will probably want to film you giving mine to me."

Brendan sighs. "Yeah."

*

Alex is right. The first day of camp is media day, and the two of them are pulled aside to discuss the plan for their special.

"We'd like to recreate the moment," Esther explains. They're going to set up a camera on the ferris wheel and film Brendan and Alex holding hands or something. Brendan isn't sure what the point of riding the ferris wheel is, exactly, but whatever. They'll do it.

The media team has already made arrangements with whoever runs the ferris wheel, so all Alex and Brendan have to do is show up.

Everything is set up and ready to go. The two of them will be on the ferris wheel alone for "authenticity." Alex glances sceptically at Brendan, probably also thinking of the irony of this being no less authentic than the original proposal.

The ferris wheel ride itself is surreal, a Groundhog Day-esque retread of the night a couple months ago. Brendan has the rings in his pocket, still weirdly nervous about them, afraid he's maybe overselling it. He's fidgety, and Alex finally puts his hand on Brendan's knee, probably to get him to stop rocking the seat.

"Chill," Alex says, his voice quiet as their car climbs to the peak of the wheel.

The ride is supposed to stop for a bit when they're at the top so the media team can get plenty of footage. Brendan hopes it's not too long, because this whole charade is starting to make him sweat, and he's worried he's going to drop the rings.

"Chill, Gally," Alex says again when they reach the top.

The camera light blinks red, letting them know that it's filming. Brendan tries to ignore it.

Alex knocks elbows with him, a deliberate move to get Brendan to look away from the camera. Alex's face is lit from below by the amusement park lights, his throat a blaze of gold and red and green, his eyes hidden in half-shadows.

Brendan knows this is the moment where he should get out the rings, but instead he leans into Alex, putting a hand on the curve of his neck and shoulder, and kisses him.

Alex doesn't react, and Brendan pulls back, knowing he's totally fucked everything up. This wasn't part of the plan set out by the media team, he's gone off-script, and there's no way anyone will even half-believe their engagement story now.

"Can we get down from here now?" he says, trying to make it a joke.

Alex shakes his head. "Can't," he says, licking his lips like _he's_ the one that's scared as fuck by what he's just done. And then, "But you can kiss me again."

Brendan doesn't have to be told twice.


End file.
